Columnist confuses free speech with hate speech

Mr. Beaton, hanging a Make America Gay Again sign your front yard is not hate speech; it is freedom of speech ("Aspen oozes hate while Pence celebrates Christmas," commentary, Jan. 7, 2017, The Aspen Times). As for the decent man who came to Aspen last week, he deserves some grief.

His "corporation" of thieves and Russian money launderers is not about helping the country and the public good. He knows this and signed on anyway. Pence is also a known homophobic grown man who works for a racist idiot who does not respect anything but gold.

He does not know anything and does not care to learn about a free press and basic history about this country. How does that make you feel as a reporter or opinion artist or whatever your job description is at The Aspen Times newspaper?